Guitar Rescue - 13 minutes of cleaning, no talking - Restoration

I not only build guitars but I also collect them. I love Strats and Teles. One of my favorite things to do is rescue broken or abused guitars. Once you take a guitar apart, fix it and put it back together it becomes truly yours and a connection is made.

Recently, I have been casually scrolling through the Seattle Goodwill eBay store. Goodwill is like a thrift store here in the States. Seattle has quite a few musicians and many instruments make it to the Goodwill. The store always has nice old instruments, a lot of off-brand stuff, and occasionally an inexpensive rare gem.

When I saw this on eBay, I knew no one would want it. I knew it could be brought back to life. I was even prepared to unglue the fretboard and replace the truss rod if it was seized up. Thankfully it wasn’t.

I choose to keep everything original. I didn’t even replace the plastic nut or the ceramic pickups. The only thing I added was a few missing screws and an extra tremolo spring. Other than that, it’s an all original 2004 Standard Series Strat.

This vid is about 13 minutes of me just cleaning set to some slow, ambient, chill-wave. Sit back watch me clean and then stay for the improvised demo at the end.

Take it easy.

Affiliate links:

Seattle Goodwill eBay Store: If you ever see a strat pop up there, let me know.

Guitar build Blueprints, DXFs, and Fusion Files available in my store:

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All Music Composed by Mark Gutierrez

[SyntagmaStation]

“No talking” is an immediate draw for me. Great video

[georgejasper]

That guitar is not even 20 years old - never saw so much neglect. Beautiful job restoring it. Sounds killer.

[MaxPower-jssk]

I feel its pain of being neglected. “it’s going to be okay, little Stratty”. ❤️❤️❤️

[craig_ramjet]

After you cleaned the pick guard it looked filthy. Then I realized the dirt was on my computer. Nice work.

[YNGWIE]

From Sadcaster, to Happycaster! I have done a bit of that myself in the past, and know the sense of pride and achievement that you get when it is restored.

[furin]

These are fun projects to work on. I got a squire from a friend who left it in their house during Katrina and when it flooded it got the guitar too. All the hardware was toast and his son actually put it in the trash pile. He knew I played so he pulled it out and brought it to me to see if I wanted to try to salvage it. Stripped it down to bare wood, replaced everything (except actual frets), and put in some decent Bare Knuckle pickups (Sinner Set) and I'm so happy. Was a blast to take it from a total waste and turn it into one of my favorites. Total cost ended up around 300-400$ but still; it's very much worth the $ and the experience was frustrating and fun.

[TheEyrie]

That was beautiful to see an old Strat get restored to play again.

[nicirvin]

This is soooo pleasing to see such a Sympathetic restoration.. Its the sort of thing I do.. Get rid of the Germs but leave its character... Good job.. As they say over the pond...

[DLCaster]

It's as if the instrument was crying tears of joy at the end for having been saved from oblivion. Just wonderful.

[sierrahp]

Nice to see even a Mex Strat given love. The tone justifies. Kudos, dude.

[solarismoon]

I've been doing this for over 30 years now. You are as adept at playing as you are at cleaning guitars. Your skills are now complete. It is official - you are now a Jedi and you can proceed to rescue all the poor guitars like this one in the galaxy! Thank you for sharing this with us to enjoy.

[RayBecker]

You took a discarded, beautiful Strat and brought it back to life. I don't care what you paid for it nor do I care how much you've increased the value of that guitar. The bottom line for me is that you found it and you gave it a new life. I feel like you will love that guitar and care for it and that's what is really important. Excellent job young man! I'm very proud of you for doing that.

[fulltiltgonzales]

Great job! The no talking is a total breath of fresh air, and the music is fantastic!

[barkingstarz]

Just found this video after buying tickets to Jeff Beck & ZZ Top- I can feel Jeff & Billy weeping tears of joy at your care & love!

[supafrogg]

I loved your rescue and restoration of the Grungecaster that the cat drugged in! I did something similar to a filthy old Stratocaster some 52 years ago, which the store selling it, wouldn't even put in their locked-glass-doors cabinet with their Gibsons, Gretschs, & Guilds! They just leaned the upright Strat in a corner. But once I cleaned it up, it had a ton of character, and then everybody liked it. I found your video very relaxing, as it reminded me of my Strat rescue!

[twinklewonderkid]

The ‘natural patina’ on the scratch plate made me chuckle. I’ve had my strat nearly 20 years and the scratch plate doesn’t look like that! Gods know what the previous owner was doing to it. Good job on the restoration!

[booshting]

Satisfying to watch. I have a 2008 Strat, looks almost new. I look after my gear.

[matsnilson]

Nice job! My '87 strat is being restored by a professional right now. I have a feeling I'm going to like it when it returns.

[Dan.Solo.Chicago]

Good job. Because of the single coils, I probably would have shielded the cavity as well as the pick guard. I actually find it fun to do.

[davecass]

cool restoration video by a man who clearly knows his way arround the fretboard, most enjoyable. thanks.